PM's visit to Srinagar: 7 flights diverted, around 12 delayed in Delhi

Seven flights, including an international one, were today diverted and around 12 others delayed due to restrictions at the IGI airport in Delhi for prime minister Manmohan Singh's departure to Srinagar.Six domestic flights -- three from Mumbai, one each from Bangalore, Chennai and Lucknow -- were diverted to Jaipurairport, while a Thai Airways flight (TG-323) from Bangkok wasdiverted to Amritsar airport as Delhi's airspace witnessedcongestion due to the scheduled departure of prime minister'splane to Srinagar between 10 am and 11 am, sources said.Singh, who went to Srinagar on a two-day visit, was scheduled to leave at around 10 am but his plane finally took-off around 10.40 am from second runway.Due to security reasons, flight movements are prohibited about three to five minutes before the scheduled departure or arrival of VIP aircraft.During this, only one runway was in use for arrival and departure. As a result, over a dozen flights arriving or departing from here got delayed as Delhi's airspace witnessed congestion, they said."Due to use of only one runway, over a dozen domestic flights were delayed by half-an-hour to an hour," sources said.The flights which were diverted to Jaipur arrived here after a delay of over two hours.GoAir flight from Mumbai (G8-172) scheduled to arrive here at 10 am arrived around 12 noon. Jet Airways flight (9W-804) from Bangalore reached here around 12.20 pm. Jetlite flight from Mumbai (S2-6172) arrived around 1 pm. Kingfisher flights from Lucknow (IT-3654) reached Delhi at 12.45 pm and from Mumbai (IT-300) reached around 1.05 pm. IndiGo flight from Chennai (6E 194) arrived Delhi at 12.30 pm.The Thai Airways flight, which was diverted to Amritsar, arrived here at around 1.40 pm, the sources said.